The public-comment period on Colorado’s controversial plan for managing roadless areas in national forests closed Thursday as a group of conservationists carried 500 letters in a kayak to Gov. Bill Ritter.

“Our roadless backcountry is best left as it is — roadless,” said Anya Byers of the Colorado Mountain Club.

“The proposed rule for Colorado has too many loopholes that would lead to the permanent loss and degradation of these areas,” Byers said.

The rule — written by the U.S. Forest Service based on recommendations from a Colorado state task force — has drawn fire for loose wording that would permit too much road building.

Colorado and Forest Service officials said they are revising sections that allow roads for utilities, grazing, fire control, and oil and gas development.

The rule would regulate 4.1 million roadless acres in the state’s eight national forests. About 300,000 acres could be open to logging, oil and gas wells, coal-mining roads and ski-resort development, according an analysis by conservation groups.

Spain came under repeated attack starting Thursday in what authorities called linked terrorist incidents, when a driver swerved a van into crowds in Barcelona’s historic Las Ramblas district, killing more than a dozen people and injuring scores of others. Early Friday, an attempted attack unfolded in a town down the coast

If there’s one superhero character whose rise might be most tied to the events of World War II, it is Captain America, who emerged from the minds of legends Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and sprung forth from an iconic 1941 debut cover on which Cap smacks Hitler right in the kisser.

A customer dining at Washington’s Oceanaire restaurant noticed an unusual line at the bottom of his receipt: “Due to the rising costs of doing business in this location, including costs associated with higher minimum wage rates, a 3% surcharge has been added to your total bill.”